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White House 'out of the fetal position'

The White House has lately been gleefully taking shots at favorite GOP boogeymen. | AP Photos
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Another party operative, directly involved in the Rove-Chamber strategy, said the attacks would resonate with a wider audience only if Democrats can convince voters that the Chamber is defending outsourcing U.S. jobs overseas.

That issue is the holy grail of liberal populism and has polled well with Democrats as well as white independents who have left the party in droves.

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Obama first raised the possibility of foreign funding making its way into American campaigns during his January State of the Union address, when he scolded the Supreme Court for a recent campaign finance ruling that, among other things, opened the door for American companies — and U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies — to air campaign ads.

But the issue didn’t gain wide traction until last week, when the White House-allied ThinkProgress blog accused the Chamber of using money from foreign chapters known as “AmChams” to fund ads attacking Democrats, in violation of a federal law prohibiting foreign nationals from spending money in American politics.

The Chamber responded that it has “a system in place for ensuring” that money from AmChams is not used for political activity in the U.S.

Congressional Democrats — especially those targeted by the $75 million wave of Chamber-financed negative advertising — have embraced the White House approach.

Last month, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) aired an ad invoking Rove’s connection to Bush after American Crossroads bought more than $1 million in negative ads attacking Bennet.

And Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) accused the Chamber of “turn[ing] its foreign-funded attack machine” on her and pledged that she would “stand up to the corporate giants that give big bonuses to their CEOs and ship our jobs overseas.”

But Former Federal Election Commission Chairman Brad Smith dismissed that argument, asserting that “complaining about the other side’s cash is a time-honored tradition, especially among those who are losing.”

Smith, who heads a group that opposes some campaign finance restrictions on free speech grounds, in a post on POLITICO’s Arena, compared the Democrats pushing the chamber foreign money attack to the conspiracists who insist that the U.S. government had a hand in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks or those who allege that Obama was not born in the United States and, as such, is ineligible to be president.

“We've had ‘truthers’ and ‘birthers,’” Smith wrote, “and now, apparently, we have a new set of conspiracy theorists — let's call them ‘AmChammers.’”

Readers' Comments (697)

In the past few days, Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and senior adviser David Axelrod have repeated a powerful — if unsubstantiated — claim that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is illegally funneling foreign cash into the domestic midterms.

.......What a NONSENSE "made-up story" we have here.............

We had Chinese living in the Lincolns room of the White House during Clinton Administration...

We had one of Hillary's chinese bundlers go to Federal prison.........

And there was millions$$ given to the Obama Administration where we have no idea who the real donor was...........

Obama has earned the title Great Divider-in-Chief...........just look at him at his rally......

Does this guy represent America?

Does this guy try to bring Americans together or divide them?

Obama, Nancy, and Dirty Harry are poison in the bloodstream of this great nation........

Because they ALL seek to divide Americans instead of bringing us together.....

ALL three need to go............................. Get rid of the poison.............

Firing at Rove is simply par for the course these days. Frankly, everyone on the Republican side would be astonished if the Democrats weren't doing so.

We all recall that the Democrats were down right surly about claims of foreign campaign contributions in the 2007-2008 time frame. Those claims may or may not have been with foundation. The current claims against the Chamber of Commerce are just lies.

Now, since the Dems are squealing about money from corporations and Wall Street flowing to the Republicans, can we see the Democrats' contributor sheets from unions, public corporations, and government employees? Oh, yeah right, thought not.

The people writing these articles are getting nuttier and nuttier considering the fact that most of the press have already debunked Obama's attack on the US Chamber of Commerce's use of money. The DNC really needs to get a new playbook. So does the RNC but it looks like they are starting to adapt to the new political arena.

FOREIGN OIL MONEY and the CHINESE and SAUDIS ,LOBBYISTS, SWINDLERS, EMBEZZLERS, and FOX NEWS are pouring cash into the EVIL GOP which they have OWNED for DECADES ,, to try to BUY AMERICA BACK AGAIN for THEMSELVES,again !

FOREIGN OIL MONEY and the CHINESE and SAUDIS ,LOBBYISTS, SWINDLERS, EMBEZZLERS, and FOX NEWS are pouring cash into the EVIL GOP which they have OWNED for DECADES ,, to try to BUY AMERICA BACK AGAIN for THEMSELVES,again

Yes but Politico has to make sure they tread lightly, or someone might remember the Democrats being caught receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions illegally funneled from the Chinese military.

Like this story!

Of course with the average democrat who struggles to remember who has been in control of congress for the past 4 years, it's a stretch for them to remember back to the late 90's.

Ahh the desperation. Now you have to LAUGH at these fools. The lower they get in the polls the more lies they will try and spread. They are just throwing anything at the wall hoping something will stick. The American people are on to OBOZO and the Democrats. The Circus in the White House continues to offer great laughs as they get closer to the November wipeout. We have old fibber me Gibbers and the old spin Dr. Nimrod to keep us laughing. Soon their floundering will be over and the rug will be pulled out from under the Democratic agenda. Generations of debt and perpetual unemployment is the legacy of the Obozos FAILED administration. Enough is Enough !

FOREIGN OIL MONEY and the CHINESE and SAUDIS ,LOBBYISTS, SWINDLERS, EMBEZZLERS, and FOX NEWS are pouring cash into the EVIL GOP which they have OWNED for DECADES ,, to try to BUY AMERICA BACK AGAIN for THEMSELVES,again !

Ahh the desperation. Now you have to LAUGH at these fools. The lower they get in the polls the more lies they will try and spread. They are just throwing anything at the wall hoping something will stick. The American people are on to OBOZO and the Democrats. The Circus in the White House continues to offer great laughs as they get closer to the November wipeout. We have old fibber me Gibbers and the old spin Dr. Nimrod to keep us laughing. Soon their floundering will be over and the rug will be pulled out from under the Democratic agenda. Generations of debt and perpetual unemployment is the legacy of the Obozos FAILED administration. Enough is Enough !

BRYANLT: Oct. 12, 2010 - 6:13 AM EST

FOREIGN OIL MONEY and the CHINESE and SAUDIS ,LOBBYISTS, SWINDLERS, EMBEZZLERS, and FOX NEWS are pouring cash into the EVIL GOP which they have OWNED for DECADES ,, to try to BUY AMERICA BACK AGAIN for THEMSELVES,again !

Looks like Bryanlt sure has bought the Libdiot lines hook line and sinker Ken in Grand rapids.

Democrats have the winning arguments. It is Republican policies that led to the Republican Great Recession (which would have been another Republican Great Depression had it not been for the country-saving Obama and the Democrats. Republicans lie about the stimulus package that saved and created over 3 million jobs. They lie about healthcare reform (because they know it will eventually be as popular as Social Security and Medicare). The Republicans haven't learned any lessons of good governance; that's why they are threatening to explode the deficit with another bail-out tax windfall for the richest Americans (the ones they work for).

FOREIGN OIL MONEY and the CHINESE and SAUDIS ,LOBBYISTS, SWINDLERS, EMBEZZLERS, and FOX NEWS are pouring cash into the EVIL GOP which they have OWNED for DECADES ,, to try to BUY AMERICA BACK AGAIN for THEMSELVES,again !